Bird Photography

Hi All,

Anyone any suggestions for taking bird photos (the avian sort). I need
a good middle of the road Digital SLR and lenses (500mm maybe). I don't
want to go bananas with the cost!

TIA

Granville
------------------------------
Craven and Pendle Birds

http://mysite.orange.co.uk/craven-and-pendle/

Canon 20D/30D would be a good middle of the road DSLR, however a 500mm lens
is going to cost you, especially if you need a big aperture.

Brett gets pretty good results from a EF 400 mm f/5.6L USM and a 1.4
teleconvertor, but it is a slow lens and lacks IS. Also, using the 1.4
converter, you loose AF, except on a 1 series body, but even then, you don't
have full AF.

For certain, stick with a cropped body, otherwise the lenses will cost even
more.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All,

Anyone any suggestions for taking bird photos (the avian sort). I need
a good middle of the road Digital SLR and lenses (500mm maybe). I don't
want to go bananas with the cost!

wrote:

Hi All,

Anyone any suggestions for taking bird photos (the avian sort).

well, that's a few dozen jokes out the window :O)



--
Paul (That's the return to yourself)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

Cheers,
Thanks, I'll have a look at the Canon 20D/30D. I realise a 500mm lens with a
large aperture costs a bomb:-( £5000 maybe. So I'll try to get away with a
300mm & 1.4 converter hopefully.

BTW. Excuse my ignorance but what's a cropped body?

Or maybe stick to digiscoping at least I have the gear for that;-)

Regards
Chris

--
Craven and Pendle Birds:
Birdwatching in and around Craven & Pendle.
N. Yorks and East Lancs.

http://mysite.orange.co.uk/craven-and-pendle/
"Stu" wrote in message
...
Canon 20D/30D would be a good middle of the road DSLR, however a 500mm
lens is going to cost you, especially if you need a big aperture.

Brett gets pretty good results from a EF 400 mm f/5.6L USM and a 1.4
teleconvertor, but it is a slow lens and lacks IS. Also, using the 1.4
converter, you loose AF, except on a 1 series body, but even then, you
don't have full AF.

For certain, stick with a cropped body, otherwise the lenses will cost
even more.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All,

Anyone any suggestions for taking bird photos (the avian sort). I need
a good middle of the road Digital SLR and lenses (500mm maybe). I don't
want to go bananas with the cost!

Stu wrote:
Canon 20D/30D would be a good middle of the road DSLR, however a
500mm lens is going to cost you, especially if you need a big
aperture.
Brett gets pretty good results from a EF 400 mm f/5.6L USM and a 1.4
teleconvertor, but it is a slow lens and lacks IS. Also, using the
1.4 converter, you loose AF, except on a 1 series body, but even
then, you don't have full AF.

Bret also tends to significantly crop images, which can be a bit misleading
when view via small screen images on Pbase.


For certain, stick with a cropped body, otherwise the lenses will
cost even more.

Or...simply do your own croppng after the fact with a FF.
The lenses sell for the same price regardless of body...

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

You would need about 20MP+ to crop a full frame to the same as the 20D/30D.


"Mark²" mjmorgan(lowest even number wrote in message
news:6YwYg.43922$nm1.4696@fed1read04...

Or...simply do your own croppng after the fact with a FF.
The lenses sell for the same price regardless of body...

--

"C R Fishwick" wrote in message
...
Cheers,
Thanks, I'll have a look at the Canon 20D/30D. I realise a 500mm lens with
a large aperture costs a bomb:-( £5000 maybe. So I'll try to get away with
a 300mm & 1.4 converter hopefully.

BTW. Excuse my ignorance but what's a cropped body?

body which has smaller sensor, not leica format (which is 35mm), but 22mm
(1.6x). 350D, 400D, 30D have such smaller sensor, 5D has full size one. So,
when you buy lens, say 400mm and you have 30D, you must multiply
300x1.6=480 ---in fact you have 480mm lens in this case.


Or maybe stick to digiscoping at least I have the gear for that;-)

Regards
Chris

--
Craven and Pendle Birds:
Birdwatching in and around Craven & Pendle.
N. Yorks and East Lancs.

http://mysite.orange.co.uk/craven-and-pendle/
"Stu" wrote in message
...
Canon 20D/30D would be a good middle of the road DSLR, however a 500mm
lens is going to cost you, especially if you need a big aperture.

Brett gets pretty good results from a EF 400 mm f/5.6L USM and a 1.4
teleconvertor, but it is a slow lens and lacks IS. Also, using the 1.4
converter, you loose AF, except on a 1 series body, but even then, you
don't have full AF.

For certain, stick with a cropped body, otherwise the lenses will cost
even more.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All,

Anyone any suggestions for taking bird photos (the avian sort). I need
a good middle of the road Digital SLR and lenses (500mm maybe). I don't
want to go bananas with the cost!

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All,

Anyone any suggestions for taking bird photos (the avian sort). I need
a good middle of the road Digital SLR and lenses (500mm maybe). I don't
want to go bananas with the cost!

Canon Rebel XTi and a Canon 75-300 (or the latest version of this lens).
LOTS of bang for the buck for birds with wings.

It only proves a lens *WITHOUT* "IS" in skilled hands is far superior to
one
with IS in an unskilled person's hands.

Proves to whom? I regularly use a Canon ef 100-400 with IS and have NEVER
turned the IS off (except for a few test shots). I am the type of birder
that cannot carry a tripod or even a monopod.

As one of the "unskilled," your words fall on doubtful ears.

wrote:
Hi All,

Anyone any suggestions for taking bird photos (the avian sort). I need
a good middle of the road Digital SLR and lenses (500mm maybe). I
don't want to go bananas with the cost!

TIA

Granville
------------------------------
Craven and Pendle Birds

http://mysite.orange.co.uk/craven-and-pendle/

My suggestion is to get the camera first. Then with your body do some
local shopping. Take some test shoots with your body and the lenses you are
considering. I would seriously look for a IS (image stabilized) lens for
that use. You also will likely want a fairly fast lens.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit